Melpomene's Jest
by Blackjack Gabbiani
Summary: General Leo confronts his former lover on the battlefield...


Blackjack's Notes--this is my second attempt at a yaoi (my first one, "Crowning Glory", has been quite well-recieved), and is my ??? attempt at a FFVI story. Strangely enough, my other two stories have opposite views of Kefka Palazzo, and this one introduces yet a third. Yes, there is supposed to be more, but my mom 'cleaned' my room and thus I can't find any of the earlier chapters (not like there were any to speak of). Anyway, all you really need to know about this version is that Kefka and Leo used to be lovers, the infusion drove Keffy-sama insane, and he once begged Leo to kill him. Leo couldn't do it, and Kef, in his paranoid state, took it to mean that Leo was now his enemy...  
But enough from me. Let's get to the story. It's the Thamasa Invasion, just so you know...  
  
  
Melpomene's Jest  
by Blackjack Gabbiani (cammycommando@yahoo.com)  
  
"Thy brother Death came, and cried,  
Wouldst thou me?"  
--'To Night', Percy Bysshe Shelly  
  
  
"So you're here. I'll enjoy this all the more now," Kefka licked his lips as he eyed Leo.  
  
Leo tightened his grip on how sword. "You dishonor the name of the Empire! You must be stopped!" he shouted.  
  
The slight man grinned. "Really? Are you going to do it? Because I've heard that before, and no one's been able to do it. What makes you think that you'll be the one to do it?"  
  
The General drew the Crystal blade. "Listen to me. I will not be cruel, but I do intend to kill you. It's the only way."  
  
Kefka laughed, not his typical mad giggle, but a derisive chuckle. "Remember when I begged you for it? You couldn't do it then, and you can't do it now! So I'll destroy you! Leo...do you realize that you're too late? I've already won! After I kill you, I'll kill the Emperor, then there'll be no one in my way! I'll rule the world! I'll destroy everything!"  
  
Leo looked deeply into the mad eyes of his former lover, searching for some trace of the man he once knew. "By doing so, you'll die too. Have you thought of that?"  
  
Kefka fired a lightning bolt at Leo, who easily dodged. "Of course I have!! Have you thought of the fact that you're so hell-bent on killing me anyway? I'll just take out as many people as I can! You're a soldier, you've killed before. Don't you just want more?"  
  
Leo shook his head. "Kefka, listen to me. I do not like killing. I hate it!"  
  
"Well, I hate you, so shut up!" the jester giggled.  
  
The younger man sighed. "I...still love you," he whispered. "No...I love who you used to be..." his voice grew to a shout. "Listen! I'll do this because I want you to be at peace. I'll never hate you. I can't. I just want you to stop this madness."  
  
Kefka laughed until his bright eyes shone with tears of mirth. "Stop this madness?" he repeated. "Leo, as I recall, I pleaded with you to do just that! And you couldn't! You've always been weak, Leo! I don't know what I ever saw in you!" A huge grin spread across his painted face. "Leo...I noticed the way you look at that little hybrid. She is MY slave, in case you've forgotten. Do you care for her? Would you take her in as you did me? She's a killer too, you know."  
  
"Only because you made her that way! You were controlling her, but she was too much for you. She's working against you now, and she WILL win. I'll see to it!"  
  
The jester knelt down and crossed his blades on the ground. "I don't even need these, you know. I'll kill you with my bare hands. And I'll have Terra back! She'll be mine, and she'll have my heir, and you'll be DEAD!! You hear me, Leo? I'll kill you and Terra will have no choice!" He sprang back to his feet and ran over to where Terra lay unconcious on the ground. "Terra...my lovely little hybrid..." he murmured as he ran his hands through her hair.  
  
Leo raced after the man, sword at the ready. "If you do anything to her..."  
  
"You'll do what?" Kefka looked straight at Leo, burning blue eyes making the younger man shudder. "Will you kill me Leo? Something you've already sworn to do? You're wasting your last breaths, my dear." He turned his attention back to the unaware girl before him, toying with her loose-fitting shirt.  
  
Leo couldn't take it any more. Ignoring the emotions of the past, he raised his sword, and with a single motion, ran the madman through.  
  
Kefka slumped over, the sword still embedded in his chest, and didn't move. Leo knelt down to his former lover. "Kef...baby...I had to stop you...I had to do it." He withdrew the Crystal and cradled the limp body. "I'm sorry...I really am...I wanted there to be another way, but there wasn't..." He stroked the delicate features and kissed the red-painted lips. "I love you..."  
  
The jester's eyes shot open, causing Leo to pull back in alarm. "Leo...stupid, stupid Leo...Did you really think I'd show up here without casting Life3 on myself? You declined the gift of Magic, so I know you won't have the forsight that I had. You were always a fool, my lovely." In a lightning-quick moment, Kefka drew a dagger from his sleeve and ran it into Leo's chest.  
  
Leo gasped and gritted his teeth. "Kef...ka...why? Why are you...doing this?"  
  
Kefka laughed again and twisted the blade, delighting in the General's screams as he leaned in to lap up the blood. "I've already told you. To repeat myself would be folly. You wasted your life, Leo, and now I will waste your death. You died for nothing, my darling, and you will know that."  
  
Leo fell the rest of the way to the ground, the loss of blood too much for his body to take. "You will pay for what you've done, Kefka Palazzo," he gasped. "The Goddesses will judge you...and you will burn..." He felt himself go limp, and cold terror gripped him as he realied that his last words to his beloved were threats of eternal damnation. 'Nothing I can do now...Kef...I still love you...'  
  
As the life left him, he sighed. He had failed his true love, and now the world would suffer as a result.  
  
The last thing he knew was the feeling of the knife being removed, and the words, whispered in his lover's delicate voice, "I won." 


End file.
